Gilded Lies
by nightowl4829
Summary: This is a sequel in my Silver Eyes trilogy. The first story is essential to read to understand what happens and can be found here: /s/8375533/1/Silver-Eyes . Samantha Harper has been through a lot in the past few weeks. She joined the Avengers and discovered she was part of an experiment. But is it really over now? Steve Rogers/ OC Humor, Romance, Drama, etc.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Alright guys, I'm proud to present my sequel to Silver Eyes. This was a long time coming. Thank you so much to amillionthanks for spurring me onward to continue, you're my inspiration. As a personal note to her, I would like to remind her to read this while sitting on the ground, as she has a tendency of falling out of chairs. Also, this ****_is_**** a sequel. It's impossible to join the story right here and understand everything, so here is a link to the first part of the Silver Eyes trilogy: www . /s/ 8375533/1/ Silver-Eyes . For those of you that don't know, fanfiction hates links for some reason, so get rid of the spaces between that and you should be taken straight there. Thank you so much to everyone for who follows or favorites, as well as you lurkers. Feel free to review, or PM if you need a quick refresher. Enjoy! Disclaimer: I own ****_The Avengers_**** DVD, but I'm told that's not the same thing as owning the Avengers.**

Sam sat in the living room of the Avengers tower, twirling her necklace pendant between her fingers. It had become a sort of habit for her as she idly stared at the TV. It was on some cooking channel, but she couldn't even tell you what they were making, to be honest. Her toe tapped against the floor. The group would be back soon, and she wanted to know how the mission went.

It had been nearly two weeks since…the incident, as Sam referred to it in her head. Some amount of normalcy had returned. Amber had moved back out of the tower once it was deemed safe, with the exception of leaving Pita the cat behind. Tony relented his "no permanent pets" rule in light of the situation. The team had returned to taking missions, with the exception of Sam.

It seemed that when she had been shot with a small amount of antiserum, her system was considerably messed up. Bruce said she would make a full recovery and go back to her completely abnormal self, but for now she was a little stuck, so to speak. She was healing slower than usual and her leg occasionally ached. Her ring finger was slightly crooked where it had been broken. Sam did her best to keep her hand out of sight, choosing not to see it. On top of all of this, Sam could no longer teleport more than a couple hundred feet, which was very problematic for her.

All in all, Sam could still function as a member of the team. She could throw knives better than anyone else, and when she fought with Natasha she wasn't pinned down in the first twenty seconds anymore, but the team still had concerns. More specifically, Steve still had concerns. She got his whole "protective boyfriend" bit, but it was really starting to annoy her. She couldn't stand just sitting around the tower all day.

Her thoughts continued on for quite a while until she heard a thump come from the elevator. Turning, she saw Clint and Steve exit the elevator, shield in hand.

"So, how did it go," Sam asked as nonchalant as she could manage.

"Oh, you know, same old, same old," Clint responded while heading to the kitchen to grab a drink. Steve came up behind the couch and kissed her forehead before taking the seat next to her.

"Hey there, cripple," Tony called from….wherever the hell Tony came from. Sam hadn't noticed him before. She jumped at the surprise, then glared.

"Stark," Steve warned with a glare of his own.

"Oh come on, I come in peace," Tony said as he dropped something on Sam's lap. She held up a box of crayons.

"Why do I get crayons," Sam asked, cautious of whatever the joke was.

"To go with these," Tony said as he held up some coloring books. "I figured since you're bored and all, I could find you something to do. Nothing too difficult, you understand."

"Stark," Steve started again in warning before Sam cut across him.

"Aw how cute. You know, if you need someone to teach you how to color inside the lines, don't be embarrassed. You don't have to give me your coloring books to do it for you. I taught my two year old cousin, I'm sure there's not that much of a learning curve for you."

"No, thanks, I'm not a fan of staying inside the lines," Tony said as he took a seat near the couch.

"Yeah, I know. I've seen you park before," Sam replied easily. She looked over at Steve, expecting to find him still mad at Tony. Surprisingly, he had a smile on his face as he watched. She guessed he was just happy to see her back to bickering.

"Excuse you, have you seen my parking? It's fantastic. Besides, your parking job needs serious help. Those lines aren't suggestions," Tony scoffed.

"Say what? My parking job is straighter than you ever will be," Sam said while sticking her tongue out.

"Are you implying Pepper is secretly a man, because I think she'll take offense at that," Tony replied.

"Are you seriously implying I'm terrible at parking," Sam asked, pretending to be hurt.

"No, I'm implying you're a woman," Tony replied. Natasha's hand came out of nowhere to hit him upside the head.

"Watch it," she called over her shoulder as she joined Clint in the kitchen.

"I didn't even see her," Tony said as he rubbed the back of his head. "It's like living with freaking ninjas. They just pop out at you when you least expect it." Sam just shook her head and made a "tsk" noise while Steve decided it was time to learn how to make the perfect omelet from the person on the TV.

The rest of the afternoon passed in pointless bickering between Sam and Tony while Steve "chaperoned" which mostly consisted of yelling at Tony when he went too far, which caused him to point out his favoritism.

"Stay out of this Capsicle. The only reason you butt in to save her is because you two make out," Tony complained.

"That's not remotely true," Sam said. "If you made out with Steve I doubt he would side with you."

The awkward pause after her words was once again swallowed up as Natasha and Clint took seats in the room and the team held a normal conversation. Pepper entered the room and shooed Tony off to get ready for some big dinner he had to attend.

"We should get ready too," Steve told Sam as he got up from the couch and stretched.

"Where are we going," Sam asked curiously.

"It's a surprise," he replied with a smile. Sam grinned back and ran off to change into some nicer clothes. She wasn't quite sure what the dress code was, so she settled for a nice shirt and dressy jeans, hoping it wasn't too casual. When she met up with Steve, she knew she wasn't too far off the mark.

"Ready to go," Steve asked as he knocked on her door.

"As I'll ever be. Are you going to tell me where we're going now," Sam replied.

Steve just shook his head and smiled. Sam reached out and took his hand. Their journey took them out into the streets of New York City, but instead of signaling for a taxi they walked on. Wherever they were going, it was in walking distance.

For her part, Sam kept making guesses of where they were going, and each time Steve would laugh or shake his head as they swung their entwined hands. She was enjoying this game. It made her feel safer, happier.

Steve stopped short on the sidewalk and pulled her into a small restaurant. Italian music filled the room and the smell was incredible. The dining space was intimate. Small booths and tables were scattered around, lit by candle light. A waiter appeared with two menus and led them to a table near the back.

"I hope you like Italian," Steve said as they were looking through the menus.

"I love it," Sam replied. "When I was little I used to visit my grandma and she would make a big lasagna." She smiled at the memories that reminded her of home.

The conversation continued throughout dinner, but it was strained. Sam could tell he was avoiding anything serious, specifically about Sam.

"So," she started as she finished her fettuccini, "how much longer am I exiled for?"

"Sam, you're not exi-," Steve said in a concerned tone.

"I know," She cut in. "But I'm fully recovered now. Health-wise, anyway. Even if not everything thing is back to normal, I'm able to fight. I can throw a knife."

"Yes, but not everything _is_ ba-," he tried again.

"Clint and Natasha are 'normal', no strings attached, and they can fight."

Steve sighed and looked away for a long minute. "Fine," he relented. "If you get cleared for your injuries, we'll talk about rejoining missions, but only as a secondary position."

"Great. Back up duty. I don't mind bleacher seats," Sam said with a smile. It was a start. However, she didn't miss the fact that he didn't actually agree. That didn't matter; Sam would get her way.

With that taken care of, dinner went by smoothly. Afterward, they walked around a few blocks and went looking through different stores. Sam's mood was significantly better. While she tried not to show it, she was going crazy being stuck in the tower doing homework.

Sam found a small thrift shop and tugged Steve inside. It was like stepping back in time. Different antiques were scattered about the store, giving it an ordered chaotic feel. There was stuff from every era, including a pocket watch from the 40s. Sam eyed it while Steve was busy examining some old photo frames. It was perfect for a present for Steve, and she decided to get it the next day and hang on to it. Finding gifts that he would like was a rare occurrence.

Meanwhile, a lone figure stood across the street in the shadows, watching Sam's every move.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

By the time they returned to the tower, it was late. Most of the others had gone off to bed, and Sam decided to forego sitting around with Clint, Pepper, and Tony in favor of getting some sleep. She was dead tired, and her feet carried her to her doorway out of habit rather than paying attention.

In his own room, Steve was just getting ready for bed. He was in the middle of changing when he heard a scream from Sam's room. Half dressed, he ran into the hall with shield in hand and made it to Sam's door in seconds. The sight that met him was not pleasant. Twenty gremlin-looking electronic dolls were creating a cacophony of noise, blinking and looking utterly terrifying. He wasn't quite sure what to do.

Sam moved to stand behind him. "Oh god, why me," she moaned.

"What are those," Steve asked as he eyed the little demons.

"Furbies," she responded as she stared at the things, afraid to take her eyes off of them. "They're a child's toy."

"Those….are toys," Steve asked slowly. What child in their right mind would want one of those?

"Stark," Sam said angrily as she kicked the nearest Furby. She hated Furbies. With a passion. Walking in on twenty of them in the middle of the night was the last thing she expected. The pranks were supposed to be over with after Bruce got caught in the crossfire, but apparently that didn't matter anymore.

Natasha came down the hall, gun out. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Stark's idea of a prank," Sam replied tersely. Natasha took in the twenty or so Furbies still making noise and Sam's face, and quickly left for her own room, which she then locked.

"What are you going to do," Steve asked apprehensively as Sam smiled. It pained him to ask. He could only imagine what would come next, but he supposed Tony deserved it. He was not about to interfere.

"JARVIS, doesn't the tower have a few of those automatic vacuum cleaner robotic things," Sam asked.

"Yes, miss. There are three at disposal," JARVIS said from the ceiling.

"Perfect," Sam grinned. "And where might those be located?"

Fifteen minutes later Sam surveyed her and Steve's handiwork. A Furby had been attached to each vacuum and secured with duct tape. Various knives of Sam's had been taped to the Furbies, making them look spectacularly frightening.

"That should do it," Sam said, proud of their work. With that, they carried their masterpieces up to the top floor to the open living room area. They could hear the news on the TV while Tony talked aimlessly with Pepper, Clint, and the addition of Thor.

Sam got the feeling of being watched, and she turned around to see Loki standing behind them, drink in hand. He simply gave them a look, not deigning to speak to them.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," Sam warned while Steve gave him his own warning look. Wordlessly, Loki turned heel and headed off, presumably to his own quarters.

The vacuums were set on the floor and turned on, pointing straight into the living room. Sam and Steve made a quick exit, having already told JARVIS to record this moment for posterity. Before they left they could hear Clint say "what the-" promptly followed by Pepper's scream as the noise activated the Furbies maniacal laughter. As the elevator lowered, they heard Thor yell "KILL THEM WITH FIRE," and Tony calling to JARVIS to get rid of them. It was in vain of course, as he was previously programmed to not step in.

The next half hour was spent safely hiding in Bruce's lab, which was previously unoccupied, as Sam and Steve watched the security feed and their attempts to rid themselves of the Furby menace in the top floor. In the end, Tony ended up calling for his suit due to one of the Furbies making a narrow miss with its knife. (Sam decided it probably wasn't the best idea to point the knife sticking out.)

One of the highlights of the night, Thor actually tried setting a Furby on fire, which resulted in the most terrifying sight any of them had previously seen. The hair on the little demon was remarkably flammable; however it did not slow it down as it continued its path of destruction towards Tony. As it melted, one of its eyes came loose and rolled across the carpet as the laughing slowly turned from the already creepy high pitch to a deeper tone that warped it to downright sinister. Sam fell out of her chair laughing as Tony actually flipped out over it.

"You know, that was probably incredibly dangerous," Steve commented.

"Well, put it this way: If he can't get rid of a Furby duct taped to a vacuum, is he qualified to be an Avenger," Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.

Admittedly, she did feel bad about the casualties on this one. Pepper left the room as quickly as possible and Clint decided it was better to perch on top of the electronics cabinet to get a better view, but Thor felt the need to "slay the hideous beasts" and did his best. Sam doubted the vacuums would be worth salvaging after this, and she hoped her knives would be okay. Still, the look on Tony's face was worth it.

They continued to watch Tony wander around the tower looking for Sam. JARVIS declined helping him once again, having promised on the life of his circuits he would not give their location away. He went from one room to another yelling at Sam, which only added to the humor. Stark wasn't truly mad, but it was obvious the war had started.

When he gave up and called it a night they left Bruce's lab, making sure they had a hard copy of the footage in case Tony decided to wipe it clean. Sam really felt that a battle of this magnitude needed to be saved for future generations to understand the heroism that took place. Their floor was eerily quiet now, but Steve walked Sam to her door, intending to clean up the rest of the Furby mess.

Once inside Sam's room, they came to a devastating discovery. The rest of the Furbies were missing. There were at least seventeen left, and JARVIS could not tell them what had happened to them. Apparently he was playing both sides of the field. Ever the protective boyfriend, Steve double checked every place in Sam's room for hidden Furbies.

"I knew I kept you around for a reason," Sam joked as he checked underneath her bed.

"You know I'll keep you safe from anything," Steve replied.

There was a momentary silence in the room as Sam remembered the serious implications of his words. There was an undercurrent there of something, and Sam wished she could say it was just related to the events of a few weeks ago, but it felt odd, like he was hinting at something more recent. She shook her head. The danger was over now. No need to worry.

"That should do it," Steve said as he pulled back her shower curtain. None of the little furred menace had been found in her room.

"Thanks," Sam smiled. She was still distracted by Steve's words earlier. Steve saw this, and pulled her in for a kiss.

"I mean it. You're the best," Sam said. She watched Steve's face carefully, but he gave nothing away as he smiled.

"Not the best, but I try," he replied. Sam went with him to the doorway and said goodbye before locking her door for the night to keep unwanted pranksters out.

After the door was secured she leaned against it and stared at her bedroom ceiling. The whole incident was over. Dr. Martins was dead. The project was stopped. Sam was free. So why did she feel like it still wasn't over?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you once again to everyone for following my story, both old and new! Reviews are of course welcomed. I love hearing from all of you. Also, as a side note, I live on a farm and its spring. So yeah, life is busy. But mostly I'll try my best to update this twice a week. Also, thank you amillionthanks for the wonderful story cover. It looks so spiffy! I feel like a real writer. Without further ado, here it is! Disclaimer: Threatening MARVEL with a toy Captain America shield to take the rights to the Avengers is frowned upon, and I've been told not to do that again. So…still not mine.**

The next day Sam was, once again, left behind in the tower. While Steve had promised she would get to leave soon, that day was not today. In fact, she was supposed to go to SHIELD headquarters tomorrow to have a talk with their physicians. Bruce had pointedly refused giving his own professional opinion on the situation, given that if he didn't clear Sam she would be mad and he figured Steve would rather Sam wait.

With nothing else to do, Sam flopped down on her favorite seat on the couch and flipped through the stations. After a while she became hungry and went into the kitchen. She saw chocolate covered pretzels in there and wanted to get some before Clint snagged them all. Living in the house was kind of like having a ton of older brothers. She learned the concept of "defensive eating", or stealing the food she liked before someone else ate it.

Now, where were they? Top shelf? Sam opened the cabinet door and screamed. A Furby was staring straight down at her, and it started up upon sensing the motion of the door. She wasn't intensely afraid of them, but they weren't exactly her favorite. And she _hated_ surprises. Plus, it was just creepy…on many levels. The toy continued making nonsensical noise even after she drop kicked it off the roof. She watched it plummet towards the ground, idly wondering if that was the best idea. It's not like it mattered; the area was empty before she dropped it. Still, she was sure she would be able to hear the distant scream of a small child upon finding it.

With that thought, Sam continued in her search for the chocolate dipped pretzels. However, she halted before opening the next cabinet. Three were destroyed last night, and one just now. That left sixteen Furbies she was sure were hidden around the tower. Even though they had lost the element of surprise, Sam decided to leave the Furbies be. It seemed far more appealing to let someone else stumble across them, blaming Stark in the process.

Sam grinned as she got her coat and headed out into the streets of New York to find some food. Chess was never her favorite game, but she enjoyed a good strategy. If she waited long enough, someone else would get Stark for her. She did start to plan ahead though. It never hurt to have a few back up ideas.

In the middle of plotting elaborate pranks, she stopped when a store window caught her eye. It was the same antique shop she had been in with Steve. She wondered if the pocket watch was still in there. It was better to go grab it now and tuck it away so that she had it, just in case.

Entering the small shop, she found it in the same spot she left it. It was absolutely gorgeous. There was barely a scratch on it, and it more than made up for it. She was busy admiring it when she heard someone approach behind her.

"Sam, is that you," she heard a man's voice behind her. It sounded vaguely familiar. She turned around to see that yes, she did know him. Her ex-boyfriend was standing right behind her, looking just the same as the last time she saw him.

"Derek," Sam said with a flat tone, "what a surprise."

"A happy one, I hope," Derek said as he pushed the bangs out of his eyes. Sam found herself following the movement, looking into his icy blue eyes. She had always liked his eyes.

The bell at the door jingled as another person entered the shop, distracting her. She shook her head a little and returned her attention to the watch in her hands.

"Oh, I'm positively overjoyed," she said sarcastically. Derek was never her favorite ex, and he was about the last person she wanted to see. Ever. He was clingy, annoying, and vaguely stalker-y, if she remembered correctly. She had a good laugh with Amber as they deleted the plethora of messages he had left in her voicemail after they broke up.

"Hey now," he frowned. "I was just thinking about the coincidence of running into you here of all places. I didn't know you ever left Indiana. What are the chances of us running into each other in the smallest antique shop in New York City? Are you telling me that you won't catch up for old time's sake?"

_Sounds like he didn't change at all,_ Sam thought. _He definitely sounds pissed he's being ignored._ "I really can't. I have places to be. I have a boyfriend. And right now, I need to go."

"Sam," he started, but she had already brushed past him and went to the register to pay for the watch. "Look, can you really not spare five minutes? We can go get coffee or something."

Sam already knew the answer. She had a strict no ex-boyfriends rule. If they broke up, there was a reason for it. Why start things again, even just as friends? Besides, she was happy with Steve. It felt wrong to talk to an ex, especially since they hadn't retained a friendship after the breakup. She was ready to tell him off, but as she turned around he was once again pushing his bangs out of his eyes. She smiled a bit, remembering his old habit.

"Can't you just cut your bangs? Maybe then they'll stay out of your face," Sam said as the woman behind the register handed her back her change and the watch. The two of them made their way outside.

"It's a fashion statement," he replied. "Come on, there's a coffee shop literally two places down. Please?"

She was ready to say no, she was sure of it, but when she looked into his eyes and saw the genuine plea there, she heard the word "sure" come out of her mouth. As long as she stressed it was a onetime deal, it couldn't hurt. Derek smiled and pulled her down the street into the shop, ordering himself an espresso and a hot chocolate for Sam before she could ask. She recalled part of the reason why she dumped him; he was a control freak.

"So, how did you end up prowling around New York," Derek asked as he took a sip of coffee. "I didn't think you would ever leave Indiana. Did Amber drag you here?"

Sam frowned as he said Amber's name in a cynical tone. They had never gotten along well. Amber always hated his personality, and Derek blamed their failed relationship on Amber getting in the way. Of course Sam had sided with Amber, and she felt like he had no reason to bring up that particular memory just now.

"No, I'm capable of moving by myself, thank you. I'm going to college here," she said evenly.

"Oh, really? What college are you at," he asked with raised eyebrows. "I thought you were going to school back home."

"I was, but I got a better offer. So why are you here," Sam asked to change the subject. She didn't really want Derek to know where she went to school, and specifically not where she lived. Even if she wasn't hesitant to let him know, it would have caused all kinds of issues if he found out she was with the Avengers.

"I came out here a few months back. I'm working on my photography. I've got an apartment a couple blocks from here and I work at a little studio," he said.

"Oh, that's cool. Living the dream," Sam said as she took a drink of her hot chocolate.

"Almost," he replied and looked down at his coffee. "So anyway, how are things? You said you have a boyfriend now?"

"Yes, I do. His name is Steve and we're incredibly happy," she replied in a warning tone.

Derek put his hands up in defense. "Okay, okay. Just making polite conversation." His icy eyes pleaded his case.

"Its fine," Sam said with a smile. She was overreacting. They were just two old friends catching up. "We've actually only been going out for a month or two. So tell me more about your studio?"

They stayed at their little table and talked long after the coffee and hot chocolate ran out before Sam glanced down and checked her phone. She had been here longer than she thought. It was weird, like time had just sped by.

"I probably need to go," Sam said as she got up.

"So soon? Well, we have to meet up again," Derek said as he threw away his empty cup.

"I don't really know about. This…us hanging out, it's not the best idea. I mean, I have a boyfriend, and we don't have the best hist-," Sam began.

"Sam," Derek cut her off as he once again swept his bangs back. "You're my only friend in the city. You can't just leave me hanging. If you're that worried about it, just don't tell your boyfriend. This is harmless. Just say you'll meet me here again in two days. Same time."

Sam looked into his eyes, and found she couldn't refuse.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

By the time Sam returned to the tower and hid the watch in her room the group was already back. She went up to the main living room and found Steve lounging around with Clint, Natasha, and Bruce.

"Where've you been," Natasha asked as Sam took a seat next to Steve.

"I got bored. Went shopping," Sam said. "Or am I not allowed out of the house unsupervised?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "No, just wondering. So you didn't do anything exciting?"

Sam wondered if she should say something about Derek or not, but she just got this feeling. It was better not to tell. She couldn't put her finger on why, but she supposed it was because she feared Steve would react badly. Besides, it's not like anything would come of it.

"Not really. I didn't even find anything I liked," Sam replied.

Pepper walked into the room from the kitchen with a neutral expression on her face…too neutral.

"Sam, can I talk to you for a second," she asked from the doorway. Feeling like a five year old in trouble, she followed the other woman back into the kitchen.

"There are Furbies," Pepper stated in a dead tone. "There are Furbies all over the kitchen."

"Pepper, I'm sorry, Tony-"

"Snakes," Pepper cut in.

"I'm sorry, what," Sam asked after hesitating a moment.

"Tony hates snakes. And I hate Furbies," Pepper said as she walked out of the kitchen.

The rest of the night was normal. Well, their standard of normal. Dinner was an absurd amount of pizza Pepper ordered in.

"Where's dessert," Tony asked. "Didn't make anything in the kitchen today?"

"Nope. I was working on something else. Calc homework," Sam tacked on with a smile as she helped clear plates from the table.

After that they popped up a big batch of popcorn and Sam, Steve, Pepper, Clint, Natasha, and Thor gathered in the living room to watch a movie.

"Sure you don't want to stay and watch, Bruce," Sam asked. "It's a comedy."

"Uh…no, I'm good. I'm just gonna go work in the lab," Bruce said with suspicion as he left. Generally, he tried to stay out of whatever mischief was caused within the tower on a daily basis. There was enough destruction when Furbies were lit on fire; the entire living room didn't need to be smashed.

"JARVIS, turn on the security feed from Tony's lab, please," Pepper announced.

"Of course, miss," said JARVIS's disembodied voice from the ceiling.

On the TV screen, they watched as Tony set things up in his lab.

"JARVIS, where are my tools," Tony called as he reached for a cabinet underneath his work table. They watched as he yanked the cabinet door open and something long and dark darted out. Tony yelped and immediately jumped on top of the table.

A second later he hopped down from the table and went to inspect. They all saw realization hit as he held up a rubber snake tied to the inside of the door with some clear fishing line that caused it to move forward when the door was yanked open. He held the snake up at arm's length on the string like a prized catch on a fishing trip and turned to the nearest security camera.

"Ha ha," he said sarcastically. "Very funny, Sam. I'll get you back for this. Let me guess, you rigged up all of the cabinets to do this?"

He set down the fake snake and went from cabinet to cabinet, methodically opening them to find more snakes tied to the doors. Every single one was rigged. Along the way he made sarcastic little comments in a flat tone; "oh no" or "oh look, a snake". When he got to the very last cabinet at the end of the room he yanked it open and…nothing happened. He bent down and found the fishing line, but it was empty.

"Really guys, you couldn't have secured it better," he muttered as he reached his arm into the cabinet to find it so it couldn't freak him out later. "This is really poor craftsma- oh hell, something touched me!"

Tony jumped backwards a total of three feet or so until he hit the opposite wall and then slowly backed away. The group watching laughed hysterically as a harmless garter snake slithered out of the cabinet and onto the floor.

"JARVIS, JARVIS," Tony called as he got up on his work bench.

"Taking care of it, sir," JARVIS said in a bored tone. A robotic arm reached in and soon had the snake humanely secured in a box.

"Sam," Tony called. "You're going to pay for that." She was far too busy laughing to notice.

"Was the live snake really necessary," Pepper asked as they started to sober up.

"I walked into my room last night and suddenly: Furbies," Sam said as she spread her hands out in an arc.

"Point well made," Pepper replied.

With the snake on its way to be properly released outside of the city in a small wooded area, Tony spent the rest of the night tinkering away in his lab. Sam was surprised there was no immediate retaliation, but she expected it would come in time. After the "group bonding" everyone went their separate ways and Sam and Steve went to her room to watch some movies in relative privacy.

Halfway through _Up_, Sam was snuggled against Steve's side. This was one of those nights where it was spent in relative quiet, but it was still comfortable. Just being with Steve could make her happy. At least, until the movie no longer held her attention and her mind started to wander.

She did her best to block out the memories. She didn't want to remember. But when her old wounds twitched and she closed her eyes, the images danced behind her lids. It was at least safer with Steve holding her. She told him she didn't recall a lot of it and that it didn't bother her, same as she fooled the SHIELD psychiatrist who examined her. She remembered everything. Every cut Dr. Martins made, every word he said. It was all right there. Tricking everyone else into believing she wasn't affected was easy; tricking herself was harder.

Sure, for the first week home everyone watched her carefully, treated her differently. In truth, she was glad Tony had restarted the prank war. It was like things were finally getting back to normal. She felt like no one was watching her quite so carefully anymore, not that she let her guard down. Half the time Sam could forget what happened herself and just get along fine.

Then there were the moments like these where her brain tormented her. Sam wouldn't say anything, not even to the man currently holding her in his arms. She couldn't. When something happened she was supposed to let it go. That's who she was. If she had to deal with this for a few weeks, she could handle it. Eventually her mind would suppress it, and life would continue on. For now, she couldn't think about it, especially when she was afraid of letting something slip to Steve, who sat blissfully unaware next to her as he watched the movie.

Instead, she focused on the sound of his breathing, the feeling of his chest rising and falling against her, and eventually of just…him. Then she thought about how she had technically lied to him today. She should have at least told him about Derek. She had just wanted to avoid the conversation. Things regarding Derek were…difficult. It was like their entire relationship was a haze. Besides, as she sat curled up next to Steve she resolved not to see him again. It was like sitting with Steve cleared her mind. She couldn't imagine ever _wanting_ to see Derek again while she was with him.

Sam smiled and curled up closer to Steve, leaning up to kiss him as he watched the movie. He smiled and looked down at her.

"What was that for?"

"For being you," Sam said as she rested her head against his shoulder.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

That night, the nightmares woke her up as usual. She laid in bed and stared up at the ceiling for a minute as she slowed her breathing down. She was there, again. Dr. Martins was holding the knife, telling Sam she was an experiment, nothing more. After her breathing returned to normal, she turned over and flipped on the light for a minute.

Reaching down into the drawer of her nightstand she pulled out a scrapbook Amber had made her. At first it was just pictures of the two of them, their parents, other friends from high school, but towards the back were some newer pictures, including some from her time spent at the tower. She went through the pictures in a sort of meditative process. _This_ was her life. She smiled as she traced one picture in particular. Amber had her arm wrapped around Sam's waist as Steve's arm draped over her shoulders. This was her life.

Placing the scrapbook back in its drawer, she turned the lights off and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hi again everyone! Thank you to all of the newcomers for following or adding my story to your favorites, it's appreciated! Also, I kind of messed up my wrist while I was working around the farm so my typing is really slow so sorry about the long wait for a relatively short chapter. Disclaimer: I have a plan in the works to obtain the rights to Marvel, but as of yet…they aren't mine. So yeah. **

Yawning, Sam got up and stretched. After she had woken up last night, she got a good amount of sleep. She felt more rested than usual. It was even better when she realized she would be going to SHIELD headquarters today to go see the physicians. She was determined to get back in the field. The sooner things were back to normal, the better.

After a quick shower and changing clothes, Sam got ready to hit the gym for a little practice. Opening the door, she soon discovered that her plans would have to change a bit. A tower of cups filled to the brim with water took up her entire doorway. She could see more in the hallway just outside of her room. Unfortunately for Steve this meant he was also blocked in. In war, no one was spared. Sighing, Sam started the long process of grabbing cups and carefully carrying them to her bathroom sink to dump out. A bucket would really have come in handy right about now.

Steve found her still demolishing the tower in her doorway twenty minutes later, not even halfway done. He started trying to clear a path to her, but she stopped him. It was more important for him to get out so he could go grab some buckets. That would speed up the process much quicker.

About an hour later a dry Sam and slightly damp Steve headed up for some well earned breakfast. Sam had decided to forego the gym session and change into normal clothes, seeing as there wasn't much time now.

"Hey Sammie-pie, ready for your big day," Tony asked as he walked in.

"I would be more prepared, but someone happened to make a tower of water blocking me in this morning," Sam replied as she took a bite of her cereal. She wasn't terribly mad, because she knew it was fair game.

"I just thought maybe you might need a glass of water if you woke up in the middle of the night," he said as he grabbed himself a doughnut.

Sam just stuck her tongue out and took another bite, not wanted to continue their bickering. Not only was she focused on the task at hand, but there was that subtle reminder of her waking up last night.

"Oh that's mature," Tony said while grabbing a seat at the table. Bruce lowered his newspaper, gave Tony a pointed look, and then raised it back up to continue reading.

"So, when exactly are you going to see Amber," Steve asked her.

"Tomorrow night. We're supposed to watch _The Dark Knight_. She's in love with Batman," Sam replied. She absolutely hated the Batman movies. If she wanted to see some action, she'd just hang around the tower on a Saturday. It was kind of pointless to sit through the movie.

"I'm sorry, you're watching _Batman,_" Tony asked. "That is the biggest waste of time. Completely fake and unrealistic."

"Oh yeah," Sam said as she rolled her eyes. "Millionaire gets bored and becomes a hero. Just a hero, not super." She tacked that part on at the end for emphasis.

"Hey now," Tony said. "He's got all of these weird enemies and he keeps some secret identity. Who does that?" That was a jab at Sam, who refused to go public at all.

"Obviously not you," Sam stated. She remembered when she first watched the _fuck-you-I'm-Iron-Man _moment, as they referred to it in the tower.

Clint had told her, "all he had to do is read off a card, but no. He did his little "fuck you, I'm Iron Man" and SHIELD's had to babysit him ever since." At the time, Sam had felt the need to defend Stark and his illiteracy.

"So you think you'll get a green light today," Clint asked.

"I better, but if not I can just make a right on red," Sam replied without missing a beat. She just hoped that if she kept this up no one would call her out on how she actually felt.

The ride to SHIELD was tense, but Sam couldn't tell if it was imagined or if everyone was on edge. She did get the distinct feeling that Steve wasn't exactly ready for her to rejoin the group. That might have been natural, but then why did everyone else seem to share that feeling? Even Bruce seemed a little hesitant for her to jump back in. Odd, because no one seemed aware of the fact she was still having nightmares. She was sure no one knew. It wasn't exactly like she was handicapped either. Sure, she had a few issues, but that didn't mean she was incapable. Did they view her as a liability, or was there something else going on?

Sam was sure it was just paranoia. Tony still seemed as sarcastic and impossible as ever, teasing Sam the whole way there. She wasn't sure if that helped or hurt her paranoia theory. Either way she was sure there was nothing she could do. She would go in there as confident as possible and ace whatever they threw at her. She would jump through every hoop if that's what it took.

A few hours later, Sam sat anxiously awaiting her results. She felt like she aced everything. Her medical tests seemed normal. The wounds she had sustained were healing nicely- she was almost fully healed, which was more than most people could say. Her physical test was a bit of a toss up, but she didn't think it went too bad. She held her own in hand to hand despite her injured leg and abdomen, and all of her weapons hit the bull's-eye, whether it was a knife or a bullet.

"Miss Harper," the physician called as she reentered the room. "Based off of your results, I'm afraid you simply aren't ready to return to the field."

Sam let a dead silence fall in the room as she stared at the woman. This was a level of bull she was not yet acquainted with. This was a level of stupidity she had only heard of, but had yet to experience in life.

"I'm sorry, what," Sam said in an outraged tone.

"In my opinion, I don't think you're capable-"

"Let me explain something to you," Sam said with a very dangerous smile. "I gave up actually going to college with my friends to move here. I jumped through all of the hoops, did everything I had to, and now you're telling me that because of some injury I have to sit around all day and take online classes? Because that's not how this is going to work. I'm an extremely pissed off teenage girl and I will gladly shadow you around SHIELD every day until you decide that I've 'finished recovering' and if you don't feel like that's enough motivation then how about I make us some matching bracelets because you and I are gonna be BFF's. There will not be a single moment that you're here, where I won't be less than three feet from you. I won't have anything better to do. Will you complain to Fury? It's not like I can be sent away; I'm stuck around here for the rest of this injury, cause I'm tired of sitting around the tower. So tell me, do you think purple bracelets, or would a blue work better for you?"

The woman raised her eyebrows at her. "Are you trying to blackmail or intimidate me?"

"What could possibly be intimidating about bracelets," Sam asked innocently. The woman continued to stare at her. "I would just like to know why this _establishment_ is so keen on _suppressing_ me. I feel_ repressed_!"

Sam was basically just yelling nonsense. It was a tactic she had used many times before. Normally, if you were having an argument, such as the time she got in a fight with a store cashier, yelling generalized sentences with randomly emphasized words did wonders. People go out of their way to stop you from making a scene.

What Sam did not count on was the woman narrowing her eyes just a fraction before leaving the room. It left her with an odd feeling. It was like the time when Amber had used a "your mom" joke on someone who's parents were divorced. It seemed like her words made more of a mark than she had thought.

Sam was starting to feel like her paranoia was a serious issue here. Maybe she shouldn't have lied to the psychologist. It's not like everyone could be out to get her.

The door once again opened and Sam saw the woman reenter the room. "Well, Miss Harper, after careful reconsideration you are free to enter the field again, on the stipulation that you keep minimum stress levels and don't over exert yourself."

Sam blinked. Did that really just happen? She was sure it was going to be easier to get a British guard to crack a smile than get this woman to change her mind. A root canal was more pleasant than her personality.

"I'm sorry, what," Sam repeated from the first time the verdict was given, but the physician simply left the room. That left Sam to collect her things in silence and head out.

That evening they celebrated Tony-style. Of course he had to whip out a few bottles of champagne, which actually wasn't that bad. Compared to normal Tony-style celebrations, this could be called "Tony Lite: same great flavor, but with half the calories". Sam was in a much better mood now that she knew the issue was resolved.

"So, Sammie-pie, are you ready to jump back in tomorrow," Tony said as he handed her a glass.

"Jump, skip, hop; anything to get out of the tower," Sam replied.

"I'm hurt, why are you so keen to get out of the tower," he asked. "Don't you like it?"

"Actually, it's not that bad here; some of the other occupants could be less annoying, but other than that."

"Don't talk about Bruce like that, he's sitting right there," Tony said. Sam gave Bruce a meaningful look.

"Sorry Bruce, she said in a flat tone.

"Yeah, I know how annoying I am," Bruce said sarcastically. "You know, with all of the jokes and pranks I'm always pulling. When will I ever change my ways?"

"Well said, Bruce. Well said," Sam replied.

The night continued with more teasing between Sam and Tony. Many jokes were said throughout, but Sam remembered all of those cups stacked outside her door.

"Where are you going," Steve asked her.

"I think I saw some apples in the kitchen. I really want to make some caramel apples right now," Sam replied.

"Sweet, I'm hungry," Tony said while messing with his phone.

Sam leveled her gaze at him. "Tin Man says what now? If you wanted something sweet you shouldn't have stacked a thousand cups outside my room."

"Aw come on," Tony called after her when she went into the kitchen.

An hour later Sam had just about wrapped up her project. She had over a dozen apples dipped in caramel and then sprinkled with mini chocolate chips. They looked fantastic.

"Uh, what are you doing," Steve questioned as she got a familiar look in her eye. She didn't answer immediately, but pulled an onion out of the fridge and stuck it on a skewer.

"I think I was a little harsh; if Stark wants something sweet, why not," Sam replied with a grin as she coated the onion in caramel and then rolled it in chocolate chips.

She left them to harden a little and went to take a break in the living room, noticing that Tony was missing.

"He said something about a breakthrough and ran down to his lab," Natasha said as she noticed Sam glancing over to where Tony had been sitting. "So much for his 'team night'."

"I think I'll go get him to reconsider," Sam said.

Steve adapted a blank expression, resigned to letting her shenanigans ensue. She was really thankful that after a month or two she had gotten him accustomed to her pranks. Certain little signs from the team told her they were happy about it too; it appeared Steve had been a tad too serious. Still, he preferred to sit in the living room while she went about creating her mischief. She went back into the kitchen, whistling a cheery tune as she went.

About twenty minutes later Tony reappeared in the living room, tears streaming down his face. Steve instantly regretted his choice to stay there; anything that made Stark cry didn't seem good for the team.

"Someone pumped tear gas into my lab," Tony announced as the team gave him a range of looks from questioning to amused.

"Calm down," Sam said as she leaned in the doorway, holding a plateful of caramel apples. "This isn't chemical warfare."

"_Excuse you_," Tony replied. "You pumped some sort of gas into my lab. That could have caused serious damage: nausea, vomiting, irritated lungs-"

"Yeah, those onions are real dangerous," Sam said in a flat tone. "I cut a few up and stuck them in your air vent."

Tony took a moment to absorb this new information as Natasha and Clint snickered while shuffling some cards. "I see," he said after a very long moment.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Now we're even," Sam said as she started to pass around some caramel apples. "But you told everyone it was a team bonding night and then disappeared."

There was a continued silence from Tony's general direction. "Fine," Sam sighed, "here's a caramel apple."

Tony accepted the caramel apple Sam handed him, took a bite, paused, and then ran into the kitchen to spit it out. He reentered the room carrying the caramel covered onion.

"Alright, I admit," he said, "that was pretty good. I wasn't expecting that."

Sam smiled and stretched. "Ready to give up yet?"

"Never," Tony replied with a grin.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey everyone, thanks once again for adding this story to your alerts. It really means a lot to me. Um, just a fun fact: ever since the chapter with the Furbies ads for Roombas have been popping up all over my computer screen. It's creeping me out. Disclaimer: Trying to stick Chris Evans into a pokeball does not give you the rights to Captain America or any other MARVEL character, it apparently makes you slightly disturbed in the head. **

"Agent Kitchen Aid, come in Agent Kitchen Aid," Tony said from over their comms system.

Sam rolled her eyes, a gesture he missed since he was actually out in the field while she was acting as a lookout. Technically speaking, Sam was the one standing in a field. Tony was messing around inside a building.

"Really? _Kitchen Aid,_" Sam asked. "You're calling me a stand mixer?"

"Actually I thought that was a knife set-," Tony started.

"Get to the point Stark," Steve cut in sounding slightly annoyed. Sam couldn't decide if it was because Tony was making fun of her or if it was because he wasn't being serious during the mission.

"Calm down Stars and Garters," Tony replied. "What's the action like out there, Sammie-pie?"

"Nonexistent. Question: why the hell do you keep calling me Sammie-pie," Sam asked. That particular nickname was starting to annoy her. From normal people she might accept it, but from Tony she felt like he was making fun of her.

"Because you bake and calling you Sammie-cake or Sammie-cookies lacks a certain charm. If you want, I can call you Sammie-caramel-covered-onions," Tony said.

"What, you've never heard of caramelized onions," Sam asked with a smile.

"Guys," Natasha said over Tony's response, "you're clogging up the comms system. Can't you annoy the hell out of each other some other time?"

"Sure thing," Tony said. The line went silent and Sam sighed. She was stationed at least a mile and a half away from the nearest team member, Bruce. Normally Bruce was the farthest out so that he could Hulk out at just the right time. Translation: she was as far away from the action as they could get her.

As annoyed as she was, Sam did her best to take a deep breath and focus on surveillance. This was her first day back. Of course they wouldn't let her in the action just yet; they had just barely let her before this whole mess happened. She knew pushing it wouldn't help much.

Sam settled into her spot, binoculars in hand. She was actually at the top of a large hill looking down on some huge complex in the Tennessee backwoods. It looked like some old moonshine facility from one of her old textbooks. They were always stationed way out in the middle of nowhere without any connecting roads. It was at least two miles to the nearest road, and even then it was a little gravel drive through the woods. And by woods, Sam meant forest. There were trees everywhere. The only way she got this high was by following some game trail up the side. In order to get a good view, Sam had to climb.

Climbing trees was not Sam's favorite thing in the whole wide world. Sure, she was from Indiana. Didn't mean she was a squirrel. Scale a building? Sure. Climb a tree? Pass.

Sam had climbed this particular tree about twenty feet up when she decided she had a nice enough view. She wrapped one leg around a branch for support and leaned back against the trunk while quickly surveying the area. There wasn't anyone coming; Sam doubted there would be.

Given the fact that this job was purely to babysit her and keep her out of their hair, Sam whipped out a crossword and a pen. She figured she had at least a good hour or so to commit to being stuck in a tree.

Sam was in the midst of stretching and stifling a yawn when she heard it. There was a rustling nearby. Tensing, Sam pulled out her gun and pointed it in the direction of some bushes. She waited with precise aim as a group of deer ran through.

"Well, there's the highlight of my day," Sam muttered as she set her gun down. She stopped for a second, but she remembered she had turned the speaker off of her comms system. They were still going on in the background, but she had nothing to add. Might as well make sure they didn't hear her wondering aloud what word could fill six letters for "to cause grievance" or if Rebecca Black really deserved to be an answer.

Sam suddenly had a good answer for that six letter blank: annoy. That summed up how she felt right now perfectly. She picked up her crossword and then went to reach for her pen and ended up touching nothing but bark. She checked every pocket, double checked her crossword, and finally cussed. "You have got to be kidding me."

It may have been futile at twenty feet up, but Sam leaned over a branch and stared at the ground. She was sure that she would see the faint white of her pen around all of the leaves and muddy area, taunting her. Life was cruel.

Sam was scanning the ground beneath her when she saw something that caught her eye. A scrap of red was poking out underneath a small bush, exactly near where the deer had run by. She looked at her watch; there was still a lot of time to kill. She figured she could hop down, figure out what it was, and then grab her pen and climb back up.

The term hop is entirely relative. In actuality, Sam maneuvered her way down between branches and may or may not have fallen a few feet at the very end. On the plus side, as she picked herself off the ground she found her missing pen. Brushing off the dirt on her knees, she got up and walked over to where she thought she saw the red. She was almost to the bush when it started moving.

Almost positive it was yet another furry woodland creature, Sam wasn't too concerned. Still, she figured better safe than sorry and ducked behind a tree. The bush started to rise up, and the more she watched the more Sam realized it was a hidden door. The scrap of red was a small flag attached to it to locate it in the wild. It was almost a perfect match for the shirt of the man climbing out of it.

A little late, Sam realized the trail she followed up the hill probably wasn't from a deer. She kicked herself a little. What had she learned in American History? A lot of the old moonshiners in the Appalachian Mountains had secret tunnels caused by mining shafts to escape. Wonderful. As great as this information was, it didn't help her with the hulking man that just crawled out of the earth.

Sam reached for her gun and found nothing. That's when she remembered that she conveniently left it up in the tree. This day was going splendid. The man had nearly reached her hiding spot and there was nowhere else Sam could go without being seen. Sighing, she checked her pockets; she had a smaller pocket knife, some lip gloss, thirty two cents, some extra hair bands, and her pen. Where was MacGyver when you needed him?

Sighing, Sam took out the pocket knife. She normally kept at least three knives on her at all times, but she honestly wasn't expecting much action. As much as she loved her knives, she left them back at the tower to show her good intentions of not causing trouble. If she had kept her gun on her, this wouldn't be a problem.

Big hulking man chose that moment to stumble out near her tree, and Sam sprang. In the end she didn't need the pocket knife. After three concise hits to his groin, stomach and head he was passed out on the ground. She found some zip ties sticking out of his pocket and tied him up quickly before dragging his unconscious body behind another tree out of the way and throwing some old leaves on him.

"Uh, guys," Sam said as she turned her earpiece back on. "We have a small problem."

"It might have to wait," Clint replied. "Half of these guys just disappeared on us."

Sam eyed the tunnel opening in front of her and she could hear the far off sound of feet echoing inside. "Yeah, no, we have a major problem. They're coming out of a tunnel about a mile and a half north of the building. You might want to get up here five minutes ago."

This time Sam scaled the tree in half the time it had originally taken her. Her gun was loaded and ready, but she only had about eight bullets inside. Even if she was a perfect shot, which she only had about an 88% hit rate, there was no way she was going to take them all down.

The earpiece was a buzz of activity as they moved in to attack the building and Steve tried to get someone out to Sam. She figured she could hold them off in the tunnels as best she could before someone got there. All she had to do was stay hidden and confuse them long enough for some back up to arrive. How ironic that the "back up" needs back up.

She waited for the first head to pop up out of the shaft and then fired. She got him by his ear, she thought. It didn't look like a kill shot. It was, however, powerful enough to cause them to duck back into the hole. She quickly jumped into another branch higher up while she had a chance.

As quickly as she got settled in a separate area a man popped out, gun at the ready. While he was facing the other way, Sam shot again. This shot landed in his right thigh, and he went down. He fired off several more shots before retreating. Sam jumped from branch to branch, barely catching a hold of the next one. She slipped on one of the branches and fell, catching hold of a lower limb one-handed. Her head banged into the side of the tree and she scrambled up in an entirely different tree before it was too late.

Two more men climbed out this time, and as Sam fired she managed to kill one man and injure the other in his shoulder. Unfortunately, the second man found her location in the leafy canopy and fired directly at her. Sam ducked and when he was out of ammo she fired again, this time for good.

This time Sam climbed further up and to the left where she was more sheltered. She reached up to her ear to feel for her comms system to ask where the hell everyone else was. Just her luck, it wasn't there. It must have fallen out when she lost her footing.

Cursing, Sam used her remaining three bullets on the next few men to come out of the tunnel. This was it. While Sam jumped once again to a different spot, this time deciding to climb higher up to get out of sight, she considered her options. The gun was now useless unless she decided to throw it at someone. Meanwhile, the men still climbing out of the tunnel looked to have no such handicap; once they realized there was no more gunfire they started pouring out until about fifteen had reached the surface and fanned out, staring up at the trees.

She rubbed her hand over her face and hoped someone would get here soon. They didn't actually have Sam's location. She had just given them a rough estimate, because at the time it wasn't very relevant. Someone would give her hell about that later; most likely Steve. Nothing could be done about that right now.

Sam dug into her pockets. Maybe there was something she could do. Reaching into her pockets she pulled out her hair bands; she could really use a distraction. Unfortunately, even shooting them like a rubber band wouldn't provide much help. But maybe there was a different way to use them.

Sam stretched the hair band across her thumb and index finger, and then grabbed a penny out of her pocket. The last time she had used a sling shot was in a physics class sophomore year; she hoped physics hadn't changed that much. Creating as much tension as she could, she let the penny fly at another tree about twenty yards down. It lost a lot of height, but it still produced an audible noise as it hit the leaves and made them rustle.

It seemed like her plan worked. She heard one of the men call out below and they headed off towards the tree. She waited until most of them were close enough to the other tree, then tried to scurry into the next tree branch. Once she was there, she took out a nickel and tried the same trick. This time she aimed more to the right, making them think she was heading further into the woods.

The group was almost solely focused on the trail Sam had set up and she figured it was now or never. She steadied herself and walked further out onto the limb, stretching to reach the next tree. However, as she got closer to the edge of the woods the trees grew further apart. Sam was having definite issues getting into the next tree.

Taking a deep breath, Sam made a leap of faith. She drew out a long breath as her foot touched down on the branch beneath her and slipped on some moss. Yelping, she grabbed hold of another branch and steadied herself.

It was too late. Someone below had caught her movement. She heard the men move below her. Damn it. Making a quick decision, she climbed higher rather taking chances getting to another tree. Hopefully she could hide from them the farther up she went.

They were around the base of the tree peering up at her; she could see them. They most likely wouldn't shoot directly upward, so she had about twenty seconds or so to get a little higher. Sam could hear them shouting, but she didn't pay attention to it. She was more focused on the tree. Luckily, she was paying attention so she wasn't caught off guard when the branch snapped beneath her; she had climbed too far. She was almost forty feet up in this , this was it.

The shouting beneath her got louder, and then she noticed another noise: wood being snapped in half and the angry roars of something barreling towards them. A darker green blur exploded below her and suddenly the Hulk was tearing through the men like rag dolls. It was heartwarming, yet frightening.

Frightening won out in the end. On his way, the Hulk happened to snap a tree in half, which in turn knocked into the tree she was currently perched in. She heard a groaning sound and closed her eyes, but it was too late. The tree started tilting and Sam decided to work her way further up the tree. She was hanging on to the highest point she could reach as she heard a deep cracking noise beneath her and the tilting motion accelerated until she was hurdling directly at the ground.

When she was only ten feet from the ground Sam leaped out as far as she could and rolled away from the tree. Scratches covered anywhere her skin was exposed, but she was otherwise unharmed. She took a moment to lay there and finish the slide show presentation of her life flashing before her eyes before slowly picking herself up off the ground. She was only twenty yards away from the Hulk smashing through the opposing forces.

Sam decided the best thing to do in this situation was probably to make a quick exit. Hulk didn't exactly need any help. She ran out of the woods and into the taller grass. It was at this time that she decided to remind herself "I'm technically a SHIELD agent". It was important to remember that after, you know, using hair bands and pennies in the field.

"Having troubles," a voice called from above her. Stark was just hovering there in his Iron Man suit.

Sam rolled her eyes and Tony came down to meet her. "Hold on tight. Looks like you're gonna fly," he said with a grin and lowered his mask.

"I- what, no," Sam said as Tony grabbed her and they flew back to the main meeting point.

Sam was used to teleporting. It was an odd feeling, like being squeezed through a cold, dark place. Flying was the exact opposite. She felt completely exposed, probably because she was. It was still in the afternoon so the sky was nice and bright, but it was slightly chilly.

They landed near a very angry looking Steve. "You didn't keep radio contact," he started. Make that extremely angry.

"I'm sorry; my earpiece fell out in the middle of everything and I couldn't reach it," Sam said. That was literally her only tie to the team- her cell phone wasn't on her during missions. No one's were, as they could be distracting or cause too much noise or light.

Steve sighed. "Make sure it doesn't happen again." Then he turned around to help wrap everything else up. They had finished taking over the building and were about to turn it over to other SHIELD agents so that they could leave.

A few minutes later Bruce walked up fully restored. Sam made sure to thank him, or the Hulk really, for his intervention. Bruce simply smiled and told her not to mention it before making sure she didn't get hurt by jumping out of the tree. The rest of the team went about their business. The ride back to the base was relatively quiet, but Sam knew this wasn't the last she would hear about this; just wait until they were debriefing.

Really, Sam couldn't be blamed for any of this. The circumstances were out of her control. Still, it was upsetting that this happened directly after Sam got back. She was sure she could talk them into keeping her in the field, but it would take a little effort.

Sam rubbed at the spot on her forehead where a headache was starting to form. It was going to be a long debriefing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so I'm really sorry about this. I feel like I should explain my unannounced hiatus. Basically, it's the result of several things. Number one, my hard drive completely wiped out on me, causing me to lose every file I had and the use of my computer completely. However, I also had to get a full time job and a ton of other issues popped up. Long story short, this story is back in commission. I can't really make any promises, but I'm doing my best to update it once a week. I'm actually excited for the fall semester to start back up because believe it or not it should give me more writing time. Thank you so much to everyone who has followed this story and left me reviews, you guys were the kick in the butt I needed to pick it back up.**

"Come off your high horse," Sam snapped. "Don't you think that if I were trying to make a play or be the hero or whatever the hell you're thinking of I would have been better prepared? Let's say that I did intentionally rip out my comms system. I had a gun with a single round and a pocket knife. I'm resourceful, but I'm not an idiot. Do you think I would purposely put myself in that position?"

Her words were directed at Fury, but it could go for a couple members of the table at this point. They had been round and round this point for a solid two hours by now. They were treating her like a child. All that time she had built up proving that she was serious, that she could make a difference in the field, destroyed by one incident a couple weeks ago. You make one mistake and they never let you forget it.

"Miss Harper, I'm here to figure out where the op went wrong. If you can't handle this maybe you should go home," Fury replied. "The facts are that, yeah, you should have had your ear piece in. You shouldn't have left your gun behind. And you damn well should have called for backup sooner."

There was a tense moment as Sam and Fury each glared at the other. Sam knew damn well Fury was hiding something. If he thought for one second she would believe this was just about a missing ear piece, he was an idiot. While she knew Fury was aware of her suspicions, she also knew he would never give anything up. Sam was at a loss.

"You're right," she said quietly. "I shouldn't have left my gun. I should have picked a better spot. I shouldn't have lost contact."

Sometimes humility really sucked. If this is what Sam had to do to play the game, then she would bite the bullet. She wasn't going anywhere now.

Fury gave her one last look. "Alright," he said, shifting focus, "how did they slip past into this tunnel?"

Sam hid her smile. She could tell Fury was hoping for a different reaction, maybe some yelling, maybe for her to storm out. Was it her imagination or did he want her gone? She fought against the bitter smile; for an organization of spies, they weren't too hard to figure out.

The rest of the meeting went by quickly after that. Sam didn't pay much attention. She didn't really need to at this point anyway; her point had been made. They were dismissed after another hour and made an uneventful ride home.

Back at the tower, Sam dragged herself out of the elevator. Steve was talking to her, but she was barely paying attention. She nodded along when she needed to and made the required responses. Mostly she felt tired. When they were finally outside her door she turned to face him.

"Look, I really just want to be left alone right now. Please," she tacked on in a softer tone. She had a full blown stage 5 headache and the thought of company was unappealing.

"I can't. We need to talk, Sam," Steve said. He wasn't just Steve anymore; suddenly he was Captain America, team leader. She could see the transformation in his posture and his words.

"Yeah, well, I don't want to talk right now," she said while walking into her room, intent on closing him out. He caught the door before it swung shut and followed her in. She could tell it was about to be a fight, but part of her didn't care.

"Too bad. We need to talk about what happened today," Steve said in an authoritative tone that only served to annoy Sam further.

"I'm pretty sure we already talked about what happened today," Sam snapped back.

"With the team. I want to talk about it with you," Steve said in a tone that nearly matched.

"Why does it matter? We should be over this by now," Sam replied.

"It matters because you're my girlfriend, as well as my teammate. I'm doubly responsible for you. I have to look after you-,"

"_Hold up._ Yes, I'm your girlfriend, but that doesn't make you _'responsible'_ for me. I take care of myself pretty damn well, and as far as 'have to look after' me goes, you don't _have_ to do anything, except get the hell out of my room. Now," Sam cut him off.

"Sam-,"

"Now," Sam's tone was completely venomous as she held the door open. Steve let out a sigh of frustration, shook his head, and stormed out. The door made a loud slamming noise as Sam carelessly threw it closed.

She turned the lock, waited approximately five seconds, and then collapsed onto her bed. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. It all went so wrong, so fast. Almost as soon as it happened Sam had regretted her words, her actions. It wasn't entirely her fault though; Steve had said and done his fair share too. There was also the fact that she felt like everyone was constantly judging her now, making sure that she wouldn't mess up. She had tried so hard today to prove that she was her old self, that she could handle it, and it had blown up in her face spectacularly. She couldn't have planned it to go any more disastrous if she had tried.

None of the excuses in her head could make her feel better. It didn't matter that she had been through an ordeal. It didn't matter that she hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep in weeks. It didn't matter that the circumstances were out of her control. She should have been prepared, should have known what to do. It seemed like no matter what she did lately, Sam was wrong.

_Everything I touch breaks_, Sam thought bitterly.

She stared blankly up at the ceiling for several moments, not really focused on anything. The images started flooding over her eyes before she could realize it was happening. She closed her eyes and saw the doctor looming over her. She saw the red running down her arms. She felt her finger snap. It was like the noise echoed in her mind.

Sam took a deep, shaky breath and opened her eyes as she sat up. It was all over. She never had to think about it again. And yet, her gaze lowered to her ring finger, staring at the bent digit. It would always be a little crooked, which served as a constant reminder of the past.

She stared at it for a couple more seconds before forcefully shoving her hand underneath a pillow out of sight. This entire day was bull. It was like a switch had been turned in Sam's mind. All of her gloominess transformed into anger. A pent up, frustrated sigh left Sam before she jumped up and grabbed her set of throwing knives. She needed a target. Badly.

Twenty minutes later Sam was in a sub gym a couple floors down. She wasn't using the gym on her floor; it was too easy for someone to interrupt her there and the last thing she wanted was to see someone else. Instead, she hid in the little gym next to the conference room that Tony primarily used to test new Iron Man weapons. It also had an abundance of targets throughout the room that Sam was putting to very good use.

One after another each knife flew across the room before embedding themselves into the targets. It annoyed Sam to no end that each and every one missed the bull's-eye. As she progressed it got worse and worse. The last knife nearly missed the outer ring as she continued to throw the knives with as much force as she could put into it.

Sam was in the middle of prying her knives out of the targets, which was no easy task with how much force she put behind them, when she heard the door smoothly shut behind her. She tensed up before resuming her work, listening to the click of heels come closer.

"Having a bad day," Natasha asked behind her.

Sam didn't respond at first. Instead, she took a deep breath and then turned slowly to face her. She didn't have any particular animosity towards Natasha, but she was really putting herself in the line of fire here.

"I don't know what you came here to say, but I really doubt it's gonna end well right now," Sam said in the nicest tone she could muster. It sounded pretty flat.

Natasha raised her eyebrow before shrugging. "I just came to see how you were. We all get bad days. You've just got to bite the bullet, throw things, and get back on target. From the looks of things, it seems like you're on your way."

Sam was genuinely surprised at her words. Natasha wasn't her closest teammate by any means, and she wasn't exactly the most sympathetic. If she had to guess that someone would come talk to her, she would bet on Pepper or Bruce, first. Hell, she would have thought Tony would drop by before Natasha.

"Thanks. Hey, Natasha," Sam called after the other woman as she made her way to the door. Natasha paused. "I'm sorry."

Natasha nodded at her and left. Sam wasn't sure what she was apologizing for specifically. She just felt so messed up about everything lately. Nothing really felt the same since she got abducted. Maybe that's what she was sorry about; things had changed, and it had been her decision that made it happen.

Sam stared down at the knives in her hand. Suddenly she lost all appeal in throwing them. She set them down carefully on one of the tables and pushed the hair out of her face. What she really wanted more than anything was some air. She cast a final glance around the room before turning off the light and closing the door.

Not that she was focusing on being stealthy, but Sam managed to get out of the tower without running into anyone else thankfully. The night air was pretty cold. It must have been around 11 or so and she hadn't planned on bringing a jacket with her. Still, the air felt nice; she had felt like she was suffocating in the building. Stark normally kept it pretty toasty in the fall.

Once she got a couple blocks out she started to relax a bit more. She felt so stressed out lately. Sam let her thoughts wander as freely as her feet while she navigated the streets of New York. The city that never sleeps was still fairly crowded and she went on auto pilot in the mindless mob surrounding her. It felt nice to just relax and keep moving without focusing too hard.

"Sam," she heard someone call out. This must have been about the third time the voice said the name. She hadn't really paid attention.

In a city of eight million people, it was highly unlikely that they were calling her. However, her feet automatically picked up the pace and she began to weave through the crowd faster, intent on losing her tail. It was probably one of the team here to find her and she didn't want to face them just yet.

A hand wrapped around her wrist before she got very far. Reacting off of instinct, she rolled her wrist in the direction of her assailant's thumb, bending it backwards and twisting out of their grasp. In the same movement she grabbed their wrist and twirled it around behind their back.

"Woah, Sam," Derek said in a strained voice that probably had something to do with the unnatural angle she was holding his arm at.

"Sorry," Sam said quickly as she let go. "I wasn't really paying attention. It's been kind of a bad day."

Derek eyed her. "Yeah, I bet. You missed our coffee date. Want to talk?"

"Now is a really bad time," Sam said as she glanced around, looking for her escape route from this conversation.

"Now is the _perfect_ time," Derek said as he firmly grabbed her hand with his. She was surprised he did at all, given that she had just demonstrated nearly taking his off.

She glared at him, but he either didn't notice or didn't care as he led the way down the sidewalk. They stopped in front of a little café with a neon open sign still glaring through the window. Sam raised her eyebrow at his choice; it certainly didn't look like Starbuck's.

"Trust me," Derek said, looking straight into the skeptical look she was giving him. She sighed and relented, following him into the shoebox sized café.

He ordered for her, getting an espresso for each of them.

"I don't really like strong coffee," she told him.

"Don't worry, you'll love it," he said, completely dismissing the topic. "So what's up?"

"Not much," she replied. "It's just been a pretty long day."

"Tell me," he said as he took a sip of his drink.

"No, thanks," Sam said.

Those ice blue eyes pierced into hers. "Aw, come on. What, is it about work? Or about that boyfriend of yours? What was his name, Stan?"

"Steve," she corrected. "And yeah, I suppose he had something to do with it. He's just been so different lately, so obsessed with protecting me. And our… friends are acting really weird too. I don't know, it's probably just stress or something."

"If you're stressed out maybe you should take a break. Take some days off work, get some distance from your boyfriend. Go somewhere warm," he said with a smile.

"I don't want a break," Sam said forcefully. "I want-…never mind."

"No, what were you about to say," Derek asked.

"I just want what I used to have," Sam said softly.

Derek's hand reached across the table and covered hers. It annoyed her terribly. When she said she wanted her past back, it definitely did not mean him. She looked up, intending to tell him just that, but the look on his face was so sincere that her argument melted inside her.

"A lot of people want their past back. Even me. Maybe if we just keep working, we can find it. Life is all about chasing that one thing that got away," Derek said. Sam looked down at their hands, avoiding getting trapped in his gaze. She knew exactly what 'one thing' Derek was after.

"I'm sorry," she said, still looking down at their hands. "But we're two very different people now, and I'm happy with the way things are. Maybe not right now, but that's the difference. Steve and I can make things work, and you and me never could." She pulled her hand away. "Thanks for the coffee, and the advice."

Sam left the shop quickly before he could stop her, even ducking into a side alley to take a shortcut that saved time and hid her from view. Funny, but her talk with Derek actually made her less angry with Steve. That probably wasn't part of Derek's plan. It was just that while talking to him, she couldn't bring herself to say anything bad about Steve. She couldn't even find it in her to call him a cuss word.

Maybe they could make things work.


End file.
